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At DMAW’s historic first ever Wake Up and Learn Edvent, Sarah Birnie with the Human Rights Campaign, and Karin Kirchoff of MINDset direct woke everyone up with invaluable insights on building monthly giving campaigns through email and telemarketing.

First: Hyperlinks and PowerPoint Don’t Play Well Together, so don’t mix the two.

Yes, this has nothing to do with monthly giving, but it’s an invaluable lesson nonetheless if you want your presentations to start smoothly, as we all saw.

Here are six real takeaways of the day:

1) Start at the Beginning.

From the moment a new donor walks into your organization they are the most important person in the world, a bundle of potential, and you’d do well to cultivate a relationship immediately. With monthly givers, it’s crucial to get their first charge processed fast and just as quickly, acknowledge them as members in the upper echelons of giving for your organization.

2) Remember What You Learned in Kindergarten.

Say please and thank you. And show you’re appreciation. If appropriate, send your monthly donor’s tax receipts for their records, as well as newsletters, magazines, member cards, calendars and any other cultivation material that will help them feel a genuine part of your mission.

3) Pay attention

Keep a close watch on whose fulfilling their monthly pledges and whose not.

Then, create a rolling plan for reactivating donors. With credit card declines, test to see which dates work best for you to recharge credit cards, and don’t be shy about making more than one attempt. Try at least one more time in the month due and again the following month.

Be courteous. On the phones remind them their card has expired and that they might want to let other people like their cable and phone companies know as well. And while they’re updating their information slip in a upgrade ask.

With emails, test your subject lines, as well as content. Make your landing page as simple as possible.

Keep scripts and text simple, conversational and tweak copy for various segments, e.g. inactive, cancelled, declines, etc. And of course, never call your donors names like saying they’re “delinquent.” More appropriate language would be “Perhaps your information changed, and would you like me to update it for you now?”

4) Recruiting “All the cool kids are doing it, why not you?”

The distance between a donor’s first action with your organization and your requests for monthly gifts is more important in recruiting sustainers than the distance from their most recent action.

So, like voting in Chicago, recruit early and often.

Telemarketing

Your online activists are a great source for monthly giving recruitment calls. You could even add a monthly giving ask to your renewal calls. Play with your scripts. For example, “You can renew your membership in small $x monthly amounts or a onetime gift of $xx.”

Or one of my favorites, “Many of our supporters are now using monthly gifts to contribute to our organization, would you like to do that as well?” A.k.a. “All the cool kids are doing it …”

And of course, “monthly giving helps saves time, money and the environment …”

Email

Again. Online activists are a great recruiting source. Test subject lines. Include monthly giving asks in renewal emails. Integrate your online efforts. Put an asks in every appropriate space on your website like the “donation,” “become a member” or “join” pages.

Use rolling recruitment efforts around events indigenous to your organization’s mission. Make up special reasons to give. HRC’s sustainers are called “Partners,” so they created a “Partners’ Appreciation Day” to help remind donors how special they are as well as recruit new Partners and upgrade existing ones.

A good upgrade strategy for sustainers is rounding up. It makes sense. People like things simple, and rounded up numbers are simple. Use causal language, “Would you like to just make that an even $xx?” And rounding up by small amounts can have enormous impacts on your annual budgets when you multiply that small number x 12 x #of upgrades.

5) Be Ready When Opportunity Knocks

HRC has spent years steadily increasing their monthly giving program and cultivating relationships with monthly supporters. So when marriage equality hit the headlines, HRC had the programs and tools in place to immediately make the most of their time in the spotlight to grow their sustainer file and recruit a whole new segment of donors known as “Straight Allies” into their program.

6) Borrow Brilliantly

I like to think of this as the more socially acceptable form of “stealing smart.”

If you see an effort from another organization or business and it looks good to you, it will likely look good to your donors as well. Adapt what you see that works for you to your organization’s efforts – legally, of course.

Like this:

I have long been a member of two local, important professional associations – the Direct Marketing Association of Washington (DMAW) and the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Washington, DC Metro Area Chapter (AFP DC). For years I had attended each of the organizations’ annual conferences where I learned about best practices, cutting-edge innovations and where I developed professionally, networking with industry colleagues and building relationships with new supplier partners.

In 2000, both conferences started to languish. They were experiencing what all other associations were…with the rise of the internet and the close of the 20th century, suddenly it seemed like all that you needed to know was right at your fingertips. Couple this with the cost of travel, lodging and conference registrations fees, industry members started thinking twice about investing in conference attendance for themselves or their staff.

With the large overlap in membership between the DMAW and AFP-DC chapter, we found that instead of members attending both conferences they were choosing between the two to attend – if at all. The same thing happened with the service provider sponsorships and participation in the exhibit hall. It became increasingly difficult to recruit highly-regarded speakers because the conferences no longer had the gravitas they once did.

A Marriage Made in Direct Marketing and Fundraising Heaven

By 2005, recognizing that we could no longer subsist in this manner, a few innovative-thinking Board members and industry leaders had a once-in-a-lifetime stroke of genius. Could AFP DC and DMAW, two organizations with common goals and members, marry their two annual conferences into one?

Would pooling volunteer and staff efforts actually cut costs, optimize member benefits and deliver a better conference than either organization could fund alone?

After a lot of dialogue, number crunching and planning, the Bridge to Integrated Marketing and Fundraising Conference (Bridge Conference) was born and continues to be a match made in direct marketing and fundraising heaven in terms of:

The number of and quality of educational sessions;

Sought-after speakers;

Increased and more diverse networking opportunities for members;

Exhibitors’ ability to reach many customers under one roof;

Corporate sponsors’ chance to be seen and heard by key audiences in one place;

Excellent use of limited budgets and limited staff time;

The word of mouth reputation that the Bridge Conference has become “THE” conference in the industry.

So, how did the Bridge Conference grow to be such a successful meeting of marketing minds?

How to Make a Joint Conference Successful, Cost-Efficient and Full of Added-Value for Members

Like any good marriage, The Bridge Conference wasn’t an instant overnight success. There were challenges and politics, egos and disagreements and…you name it along the way. But there were also some great lessons learned that I, as a member and committee volunteer, want to share with you.

Here are my top 7 tips on how to keep the spark alive when it comes to building an efficient and effective “co-conference” with a partnering organization:

Trust: If that doesn’t exist, it’ll never work.

Keep your common goals in mind: Remember, it’s about providing your members, sponsors and exhibitors with the most bang for their buck.

Establish a conference hub: Agreeing on and hiring a third-party conference planning firm as your organizations’ central point of contact for logistics make things run much more smoothly.

Be accountable: As with any volunteer experience, pull your weight and don’t leave it to others to pick up the slack.

Great communication: Not to sound too much like Dr. Phil, but you need open and constant dialogue to keep things going and growing.

A solid marketing plan: Integrated marketing is the way to go: Print, digital, social and PR – all channels lead to success.

Leverage your volunteers: Last but not least, and possibly the most important tip of them all, select strong volunteers who “work well in the sandbox” with others, empower them to be creative, encourage them to tell everyone they know about the conference and, of course, don’t forget to thank them afterwards!

Eight Years and Going Strong

Over the eight years we have learned a lot, tried some new things (some successful some not), but each year the conference gets better. Today, the Bridge to Integrated Marketing and Fundraising Conference will host their 8th Annual event at the Gaylord National Hotel & Conference Center in National Harbor, MD from July 31 – August 2. We’ll have more than 70 educational sessions and New York Times bestselling author Cheryl Strayed (Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail) as the keynote speaker.

This year the Bridge Conference is reporting record-breaking results:

Sponsorships are at a record high and opportunities are nearly sold out;

The exhibitor hall sold out weeks ago and has a growing waiting list;

We have sold our highest number of registrations ever before early-bird rates expire (June 16).

The goal of the conference leadership committee is to not only make this year’s conference one of the most valuable in its history, but for it to be unforgettable.

I don’t know about you, but when I see a marriage flourish and grow deep roots, it inspires me. This may be the marriage of two conferences, but it inspired me enough to write about its staying power, flourishing future, not to mention the exemplary dedication of the people involved in it. Mazel Tov!

Greg Albright is an industry leader, innovator and philanthropist. As partner, founder and principal at Production Solutions, he has helped to shape the direct marketing industry for more than 25 years. Known for his signature move – the “right hook” around a colleague’s shoulder as he convincingly encourages a member of the industry to volunteer for an important cause or initiative – Greg hopes to inspire by sharing his secrets to a rich and rewarding career through industry engagement in his weekly The Right Hook blog posts. It is through this engagement and enthusiasm that he was able to help his company and colleagues adapt and excel through the ongoing period of rapid evolution in the industry and in the marketplace. The Right Hook blog also highlights the power of entrepreneurial curiosity, passion for innovation and Greg’s deep belief that working together to innovate and integrate the direct marketing industry is the key to success.

Prepare to be challenged. As promised, here’s a quick look at the keynote address given by Tom Gaffny at the DMAW’s DM201 event.

Tom opened his remarks by pointing out that donors today are suffering from “B.D.S.” Battered Donor Syndrome. Resulting from a bombardment of marketing messages and over-zealous competition for their support.

So how do you help your donors recover from B.D.S.?

1) STOP: Thinking you own the donor.

Our industry language suggests we “acquire,” “recapture,”, and “convert” donors. If you were walking down the street and someone tried to acquire, capture or convert you, would you stick around?

Of course, not. You don’t own your donor.

Your donors have much more control than you over whether or not and how they choose to have a relationship with you and at what level. Make having a relationship with your organization valuable to your donors.

Treat your donors as people. Remember the golden rule; “People Give to People.” And don’t always think, “What can I get from my donor?” Think about ways you can show you value your donor.

Two simple ways to do this are:

Putting multiple stamps on the reply envelope—saving your donors money with something more personal than a business reply barcode.

Focusing your letters on the donor’s actions rather your organizations’—making them feel like an integral part of your mission.

2) STOP: One dimensional donor ranking.

Most of us segment our donors based on their monetary values to our organization.

But do you know how your donor ranks you among their giving priorities?

Invest in finding out how much your donor cares about your organization and the work you’re doing. Are you just one of many organizations your donor supports or are you among a select few?

Identify the people who really matter. Engage those donors with a more “donor-centric” approach, and commit to nurturing relationships with those donors.

Ideally, you want to find donors that rank high on an emotional pyramid and incorporate them into your package testing and campaign mix. Monitor how that segment performs, and you’ll likely find hidden treasure.

3) STOP: Focusing solely on acquisition to grow your file.

As Tom pointed out, “We may be the only industry in the world that doesn’t view retention as the key to growth.”

No business would think to work constantly on getting new customers at the expense of the ones they already have. To grow your program, Tom recommends shifting your focus to “donor-centric” retention. Get to know who your best supporters are and treat them like royalty. Engage them through their interests, their needs, their values.

Anything you can do to let your donors know you care about and value them will make for donors who want to remain committed to your organization.

Here’s an excellent example of donor-centric retention:

Following the Boston Marathon bombing, Food for the Poor contacted donors who live in the Boston area just to see if they were alright. Using a phone call and a follow-up card in the mail, the organization contacted thousands of donors to let them know they matter … and earned some lifelong donors in the process.

We call this “cultivation.” We should call it “commonsense.”

Historically as an industry, we tend not to think along the lines of sending “no strings attached” communications to our donors.

Tom suggests we need to shift our priorities to balance in optimizing relationships with costs concerns, which requires “no strings attached” cultivation. This in turn, helps deepen the bond your donors have to your organization, making them monetarily more valuable long-term.

What a day it was at the spectacular U.S.A Today campus for DMAW’s, DM201.

From new hires to industry vets, everyone learned something from the stellar line-up of DM pros who graciously shared their direct marketing experience. Special thanks to all presenters, volunteers and sponsors PMG, RR Donnelly, and Direct Mail Solutions.

I’ve lots to share with you and online attention spans are at work, so let’s jump right in.

Three Things You Should STOP Doing – Keynote Speaker: Tom Gaffny

As the keynote address, this was far too informative to cover here. Look for a separate blog dedicated to this section. But here’s a teaser.

“Our industry language suggests we “acquire,” “capture,” and “convert” donors. If you were walking down the street and someone tried to acquire, capture or convert you, would you stick around?”

Show your appreciation through cultivation and engagement opportunities.

One of the best ways to do both of these is with a comprehensive analysis of data from every possible touch point.

Monitoring your data allows you to respond in real time to your donors as your campaigns progress, and of course, strategically forecast budgets and predict future trends.

Depending on the data you have, you can find out: What channels your donors are using to communicate with you? Which messages are working and which are not? Is your current campaign going to meet its projected goals? As well as who might be interested in getting more involved with your organization or respond to an upgrade offer? And where to focus your attention to increase donor satisfaction and thus retention?

You can even use multivariate testing[i] to dramatically reduce your testing to rollout time by using fewer packages to test more variables. But I’ve been told it’s requires “pretty stat heavy back-end analysis,” so don’t try this at home without proper analytical supervision.

Making the Monthly Connection – AJ Minogue, ASPCA; Steve Kehrli, PETA

Hats Off. No one tugs our emotional heart strings better than the dogs and cats of ASPCA’s DRTV monthly giving campaigns. But you say you can’t afford Sarah McLachlin and TV ads.

Utilize all your channels. Consider online ads. Make monthly giving a standing option on replies and acknowledgments. Ask new donors to become monthly givers right away, because the chances of them migrating diminishes with each passing month. Upgrade anyway you can.

And treat these donors like gold. They are your most loyal supporters.

Mid-Level Migration – Kristin McCurry, MINDset direct

Look under the surface of your file and you’ll discover an entire herd of donors capable of filling the gap between your lower and higher dollar donors. A few tips for a mid-level program.

Begin by selecting the right audience. Look at cumulative giving, single outliers, all channels. Remember migration isn’t one way—lapsed major donors can be brought back into the fold.

To retain your mid-level supporters, treat them as investors. Offer periodic updates and in-depth views of how their money is used. Grant them access to higher-ups in your organization. Create opportunities for one to one dialogues. Make sure everyone in your organization is paying attention to possible migrators.

A real-world example of having these business practices in place:

A sustainer whose monthly pledge was only $25 a month sent in a check for over $3,000. Because the right people were paying attention, the organization was able to
have this donor on the phone within 72 hours of her putting the check in the mail.

What happens when you coordinate a campaign across all available channels and do it well:

Whitman-Walker Health filled a fundraising dry zone between its October AIDSWalk and the traditional holiday season with a Neighbors in Need campaign, achieving fundraising gold. They also cleverly incorporated their end of year holiday card mailing as a thank you, follow-up to the campaign. Results: Over 5% response from their appeal audience. An acquisition that paid for itself. And from their lapsed donors, an impressive 8.4% and 6.1% response from phones and mail respectively.

GEDCO, a faith-based community organization out of Baltimore serving mostly low-income seniors saw a 60% rise in donations over a three year period by developing and refining a year-end multi-channel campaign. What’s most impressive is they achieved these results by turning their mostly 60+, mail oriented donor file into online responsive donors.

Some of the hot items: dimple textured carriers … priority handling stickers … inside security tints for OE’s … oversized, drop cut book marks as part of the insert … business cards with photos … actual address label to right of window with priority mail reply showing through the window … decals showing through rear window … infographic showing through second window … self-mailer with pull-out business reply card … and a pop-up paper bank sent along with a request for the donor to save their change in it so they can send in a donation of equal amount.

[i] Katie Vlavo, Associate Director of Acquisition for The Nature Conservancy discussed using multivariate analytics in helping to shorten their testing to keep their acquisition up during the economic downturn.

May is DMAW Membership Month! When you renew your membership, anytime between May 1 to May 31, you will automatically be entered for a chance to win a complimentary 2013 Bridge Conference Registration. This includes full access to both days of the conference, with 70+ educational sessions, over 100 services providers in the Solutions Showcase and three great keynotes!

DMAW membership gives you the professional push you need to Spring into Action―and pull ahead in your field.

Your DMAW membership entitles you to member-only discounts, our monthly newsletter, Marketing AdVents, the Sourcebook, Job Exchange and much more. Take advantage of the great DMAW educational and networking opportunities already scheduled for 2013.

As a special bonus…beyond being eligible for the grand prize when you renew, you will also be entered to win one of our other great weekly prizes such as Wolf Trap tickets, a registration to a DMAW Monthly Lunch & Learn, Great American Restaurant & BLT Steak gift cards and other terrific prizes!

On April 24th, direct marketers joined together for the re-introduced DMAW Innovative Formats and Integrated Campaigns Forum. Eleven presenting companies introduced their inventive direct marketing ideas and techniques. In addition to the presenting companies, there were bonus sessions that included a jam-packed fold presentation by Trish Witkowski (Chief Folding Fanatic at the FoldFactory), a premiums presentation by Cheryl Keedy (Senior Strategist of Direct Response and Marketing Formats at Production Solutions), and a keynote case study by Brenna Holmes (Director of Interactive Department at Chapman Cubine Adams + Hussey).

The Innovative Formats and Integrated Campaigns program was chock-full of great presentations that included:

Throughout the day, the presenters brought an incredible energy to stage while they showcased their state-of-the-art direct marketing techniques and engaged the audience. The presentations filled the room with new awareness of innovative concepts that the attendees raved about during and after the event. It was clear across all presentations that multi-channel campaign integration is a hot topic in direct marketing! Everyone left with an abundance of new direct marketing ideas and samples to take back to their teams.

Here’s a look into what some of the event volunteers had to say about the event:

“It was truly rewarding to hear so much positive feedback from participants who walked away with tangible new ideas to implement for their organizations and clients. And even better, I had a great time working with such fantastic veteran and first time volunteers. I look forward to working with them again!”

–Melissa Ford, Mal Warwick Associates

“Volunteering at the DMAW Innovative Formats and Integrated Campaigns event was a very rewarding experience. I met a lot of new suppliers, and I have a portfolio full of new formats that I am eager to share with my colleagues. I definitely plan on attending next year!”

-Bethany McConnel, HSP Direct

“New to the industry, volunteering for this event taught me more than I could have imagined about the direct marketing industry. Being involved in the event’s marketing, presentation selection process and all the way through to the debriefing has allowed me to learn, network, and find satisfaction in an overwhelmingly successful event. I suggest that anyone new to the industry volunteer for a future DMAW event!”

-Danielle Hart, The Engage Group / MailSmart Logistics

“Volunteering gave me a unique perspective on the innovative formats presented. It gave me an opportunity to brainstorm with other direct marketing professionals from around the industry—which adds a great deal of value to my day to day job!”

Danielle Hart doubles as an Online Fundraising Account Manager at The Engage Group and a Postal Logistics Account Manager at MailSmart Logistics. She can be reached at Danielle@engageyourcause.com or found on her personal website at www.daniellehart.com

Next week marks the return of one of the most sought-after and valuable direct marketing events in our industry. Formerly DMAW’s Innovative Formats and Inventive Techniques Forum (IFIT), the forum is back after a two-year hiatus as the Innovative Formats and Integrated Campaigns Forum (IFIC). I, along with a team of like-open-minded direct marketing volunteers (among them, DMAW’s current President, Mike DeFlavia), launched this forum 13 years ago to help connect decision makers with innovative suppliers in a one-day innovation showcase. The best part of the forum is that each attendee leaves with a portfolio of package samples and successful campaign outlines which are meant to kick start the creative planning and dialogue upon their returning to work.

I’m excited that the forum is back and better than ever this year with a new, and necessary, focus on integration. The marketplace is thirsty for new ideas and has recognized that integration is necessary to evolve and stay relevant. Still, we know that direct mail is a big driver in direct marketing, especially in the fundraising arena. IFIC provides the best of both worlds: innovations on the direct mail side, as well as real, tangible ways to embrace integrated campaigns across several channels, including email, mobile, web, social and DRTV.

IFIC will feature 13 direct mail innovators and integrators, showcasing leading-edge formats as well as state-of-the-art integrated campaigns. Each will distribute samples and has 15 minutes to present. In a comfortable, no pressure environment presenters will be available for questions.

IFIC is not only a showcase of the best our industry has to offer, but also our industry at its best. The forum was four months in the making and an all-volunteer effort by a diverse committee of more than a dozen members from both digital and traditional direct marketing agencies and production management firms. We can all benefit from their commitment to keeping our industry relevant and integration top of mind. IFIC is another example of industry engagement leading to industry evolution. This is what it’s all about.

See you there! For more information about IFIC and to register, click here.

Greg Albright is Co-Founder and CCO of Production Solutions, one of the largest marketing production management firms in the country. He received the DMAW Award for Distinguished Achievement in DM in 2012, and is the author of The Right Hook, a weekly blog that showcases the best integrated marketing practices of rising and already-shining industry professionals, as well as great advice about enjoying a rewarding career by putting volunteerism front and center.